Author: virginiacmccoy

I got the photo for number six on Wednesday and I decided to do some practice on the naked winter trees.  The photo shows a soft, overcast, snowy winter day in Virginia.  The first photo is the taped off house and shed and the underpainting of a soft very light bluish green.

Then I added the background trees and then the middle ground trees and took the tape off to start the house.  It is exciting to take off the tape and see if it worked out.  LOL!

Still quite a bit to go…

I was reading a collection of short stories and came across a lot of interesting stuff.  One story was obviously the basis for the movie Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.  The story is called The Sobbin’ Women.  It was very good!  LOL!  There were quite a few very good stories in the book.  The book is called The Family Reader compiled by Marjorie Barrows and copyright MCMXLVI (1946).  Most of the stories are light reading.  I found my quote as the last paragraph of one of the stories:  Grandma and the Seagull.

 

People may seem to be perfectly impossible.  They may seem to be mean and small and sly.  But if you will take ten paces to the left and look again with the light falling at a different angle, very likely you will see that they are generous and warm and kind.  It all depends.  It all depends on the point from which you’re seeing them.

— Louise Dickinson Rich

I thought of the above girl when I read this quote.  When I found the reference photo, the photographer had posted many others of her, also.  I was hoping to use them, but when I went to find them, I only found this other one.  In the many photos, she looked different in each one.

 

 

 

 

 

I finished this in one week.  It was not as difficult as I was anticipating.  Because of its size (8×10), I was able to scan it and get closer to the original.  Now, on to number six, next week.

There’s never a sky that shelters us
Like the one that glows above
The broad gray roof that is covering those
Of the blood and the name we love.
There’s never a pleasant, sunlit road
In all the ways we roam
Like the little, narrow, familiar street
That runs by the door of home.

~Esther M. Clark Hill

 

 

I am in the process of exploring the color of this house and trying to match it.  I have so many layers on it that I don’t really remember how many.  LOL!  This one is an 8×10, so it will be more difficult to get details.  I am really looking forward to seeing it finished, though.  It is a cloudless sky and there are lots of trees and plants.

Color is my day-long obsession, joy and torment.

— Claude Monet

I have finished painting number four:

The shutters on the main house, above, are dark green, but they look black.  Unfortunately, the photos do not show the details as well as seeing it in person.

And now, on to number five:

I also took a few pictures from the basement window, this morning:

We have also been missing some things around the house, including my painting apron.  I could not figure out how my apron could come up missing so soon after using it.  I have another apron, but I love that particular apron, because it is so beautifully covered with remnants of past paintings.  LOL!  Well, I looked and looked and finally came up with a story of what happened.  I’m thinking that two Amish Rabbi’s from Mongolia, who ride calico cats bareback, broke into our house and stole my apron, among other things, which include Mr. Beloved’s parka.  Why they would want those things, I don’t know.  (You know, I really need to write down some of the strange things that come into my mind.  I know I could make a book just as good as Tolkien or Lewis…)  Anyway, I finally found my apron in a deep dark corner.  I have no idea how it got there.  Mr. Beloved’s parka is still missing…

Speaking of books, I have recently read some really good ones.  One was The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris.  I always learn a lot when I read a David McCullough book.  I was fascinated by the stories of famous Americans, especially the artists and doctors.  As usual, I highly recommend books by David McCullough.  It was an audio book and the first chapter was read by the author, but then the rest was read by Edward Hermann.  Mr. Hermann was a very good reader and he almost sounded like the author.

The next one I read was The Lewis and Clark Journals: An American Epic of Discovery.  I was surprised to discover that the Lewis and Clark party ate a lot of dogs and horses during their travels.  Toby was horrified and disgusted that I would read something like that and apparently enjoy it.  I reassured him that I was not to be converted to canine delicacies.  But, what an adventure they had!  A very interesting and, sometimes, humorous read.  This was abridged, because the journals are in many volumes.  I normally do not like abridged books, but this was an exception, because I didn’t think I could make it through the whole thing in one whack.  The only issue I had with this one were the ridiculous parentheses that were inserted by the editor too often.  But, I got over it and enjoyed the book very much.  This was an audio book, also, but the reader almost sounded mechanical.  The reader of an audio book can make or break it and if it wasn’t for the fact that the book was so good, I would not have been able to abide that voice.

And, now I am working on the very long Washington, A life by Ron Chernow.  George Washington is my favorite president.  This book presents him as very human, emotional, faulty, heroic, ridiculous, brave, wise, and foolish.  In other words:  a lowly human just like the rest of us.  In his case, the Lord had wonderful things for him to do.  Such a good book.  I only had ten books on Washington, so this was a good addition to my library.  As for the reader (because, yes, this is an audio book, too), he has a voice that I can only describe as slightly slimy and irritating.  I am learning, though, to tune that out and listen to the words.  You know, you can’t tune it out, though, if it is really bad, so he isn’t all that bad.  I have admired George’s wife, Martha, also.  I have a novel based on her life, called Lady Washington by Dorothy Clarke Wilson, which I highly recommend.

I am also reading (in actual paperback form) The Lord’s Day by Joseph Pipa, Jr.  Very good and convicting.  The longer I am a Christian, the more I realize how much I have to learn.  The Lord is very good to give teachers and I pray that I will humble myself to learn from them and also recognize the true teachers from the false ones.

Has anyone read any of the above books?  Do you like history?

History with its flickering lamp stumbles along the trail of the past, trying to reconstruct its scenes, to revive its echoes, and kindle with pale gleams the passion of former days.

— Winston Churchill

 

 

Okay, I know that I am sending too many updates, but things are rolling right along.

I hope things are starting to make sense.  I’m sure it looked rather strange that I left off so much of the garage.  And I have not been really trying to get wonderful photos.  When I am totally done, I will take some good photos.  Probably next week.  I still have quite a bit to do on this one.  I have decided not to take a break between paintings and I want to start the next one on Monday, if I can.

If you want to kill time, try working it to death.

— Sam Levonson

 

Starting on the plants:

When you have only two pennies left in the world,

buy a loaf of bread with one, and a lily with the other.

–Chinese Proverb

I am thawed, for now, and working away.

The photo doesn’t show it very well, but there are two different buildings there.  The one on the left (the star of the show) has a slight greenish tinge to it.  The one on the right (supporting player) is white with grey shadows.  I must confess that it is very difficult for me to keep going through the ugly stage…

Kitty is rolling her eyes:

Toby, who cannot sit still very often, jumped up while I was taking this fairly long exposure and told me that I was simply wonderful and he didn’t know anyone who was as great as I am and that he would gladly take on anyone who did not agree and that he was very hungry and wanted to go outside and chase rabbits and when was Daddy coming home and … etc., etc., etc.  LOL!

Toby has never gotten to chase rabbits in his entire lifetime, but that is a dream of his.

The artist gazes upon a reality and creates his own impression. The viewer gazes upon the impression and creates his own reality.

— Robert Brault

Here is update number two:

It is coming along.  The yard does not slope.  It looks like it, but that is just the underpainting.  The grass will cover that and, hopefully, look like the lovely lawn that was really there.

The weather here is amazingly cold.  I said a little while back that I was prepared to walk on the trails in the snowy and icy weather.  Well, I lied!  I was definitely not prepared and I have not done it.  Here is a shot of our solid ice driveway:

I’m not gonna do it.  And Toby doesn’t want to do it, either.  The temperature has been below zero for a few days and he has to do his business in shifts.  He only has to be out in the wind for a few minutes before he starts shutting down and I have to get him inside quickly to thaw out.  It is so cold, that we can’t really get it warm inside even with the fire blazing high.  It is supposed to warm up, soon.  I can honestly say that I am looking forward to it.  Even the birds are hopping around on one leg, trying to keep the other one warm while snapping up birdseed.  I don’t know how they manage to survive winters.  I am finding it difficult to function much at all.  Grandma said that when you get old, it all falls apart.  It appears that she was right.  And most of the falling apart happens in the cold winter.

What nutriment can I extract from these bare twigs?  Starvation stares me in the face. “Nay, nay,” said a nuthatch, making its way, head downward, about a bare hickory close by, “The nearer the bone, the sweeter the meat…. If at any time the weather is too bleak and cold for you, keep the sunny side of the trunk, for a wholesome and inspiring warmth is there, such as the summer never afforded….” “Hear! hear!” screamed the jay from a neighboring tree, where I had heard a tittering for some time, “winter has a concentrated and nutty kernel, if you know where to look for it.”… [A] red squirrel… came running down a slanting bough, and as he stopped twirling a nut, called out rather impudently, “Look here! just get a snug-fitting fur coat and a pair of fur gloves like mine, and you may laugh at a northeast storm.”

–Henry David Thoreau, Nov. 8, 1858

Okay, thank the Lord, I am feeling much better.  I am not totally out of the woods, but so much better and able to get around and do my work that I am floating on air.  I just recently read something by Laura Ingalls Wilder that speaks to that:

“I’m sure we will all acknowledge that there is an advantage in having been ill if it makes us eager for work once more.  Sometimes, I fancy we do not always appreciate the value of work, and how dry and flavorless life would be without it.  If work were taken from us, we would lose rest, also, for how could we rest unless we first became tired from working?” 

Now, I don’t know that we will all acknowledge it, but it appears to be true when I am sick and can’t work that I can’t wait to get well so that I can.  LOL!

Anyway, here is the first update on painting number four:

I taped off the house to do the background.  I think I like that way of doing it.  We’ll see how it turns out.

I have taken a few pictures here and there:

Unfortunately, this morning I stuck my head out the back door to get some kindling and found this:

I’m starting to wonder if woodpeckers are safe around here…

It is sad, but beautiful:

The weather is amazingly cold with some snow.  The other morning, when we woke up, it was -10 degrees.  That is pretty cold for around here.  Right now, it is around noon and about 12 degrees with a little snow and some sunshine.  Back here in the office, away from the woodstove, my hands are about to freeze up.  Gonna wrap this up and get into the heat.

Keep warm and keep your powder dry.  (I love that saying!  LOL!  One of these days, I want to have a muzzleloader and need to keep my powder dry.)

If only we’d stop trying to be happy we could have a pretty good time.

–Edith Wharton

 

 

 

 

 

I have not started the next painting, because I was busy last week making packets for our congregational meeting, then I got sick on Monday, and on Wednesday, when I thought I was getting better, I threw my back out.

Before all this started, I started a double batch of homemade apple cider vinegar and I thought it made a nice photo.

If anyone is interested, I can do a detailed post on it in the future.

Also, today was supposed to be “Snowmageddon”, but nothing spectacular thus far.  We might wake up to a world encased in ice, however.  Here is what it looks like as of 5:00 p.m. today.

How do you like my bird feeder scuplture?  LOL!  It is a piece of firewood that I liked the look of and it weighs down the saucer so that the birds can’t knock it off the table.

Well, I hope to have a WIP for you in the next post.

I hope you all are well.

P.S.  Remember the portrait swap?  The portrait that I did is below:

Normally, I don’t allow anyone to see the reference photo, but in this swap one of the requirements was to show the reference and it didn’t hurt too much, so I thought I would share it here.

This is the portrait that he did of me:

This is the first portrait that anyone has done of me, that I can remember.  I am looking forward to next year’s portrait swap.

By the way, sometimes I choose quotes just because they resonate with me.  Sometimes, I choose them because they just sound nifty.  Sometimes, I have no idea why I choose the particular quote that I do.  Sometimes, it actually has something to do with the post.  This one?  I just liked it.  LOL!

It is in an old kitchen that the best food is made.

–French Proverb